July 2017

www.advantech.com

Automation Dashboard for Industrial IoT

Applications

Providing users with cross-platform, cross-browser data access and user interface based on HTML5 technology

Author: Livia Xiang, Advantech Corporation

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Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, software and hardware

are used in automation and control in the electrical power, chemicals, oil and gas,

food and beverage, manufacturing and other industries. That is because SCADA

solutions offer such benefits as real-time detection of machine faults, output defect

reduction, and cost savings. In the electrical and oil and gas sectors, SCADA systems

reduce losses and optimize production.

Thanks to such benefits, SCADA deployments are expanding. Analysts forecast

SCADA components to have a compound annual growth rate of 5.2 to 6.6 percent

over the next five to seven years.

Another growing technology is the Internet of Things (IoT). Tens of billions of devices

will be connected by 2020, according to Cisco. The networking company says there

will be a four-fold increase in connected devices at the end of the decade as

compared to the number in 2010. A significant fraction of these will be in industrial

applications. This means there will be a proliferation of sensors and data, as well as

an expanding pool of devices available for accessing this data and exercising control

via SCADA.

This presents challenges but solutions built upon HTML5

technology can overcome them. The result will be cross-platform

viewing of data and implementation of control functions.

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SCADA Challenges

To see why IoT creates issues for traditional SCADA solutions, consider how these

systems have been designed and deployed in the past. Years ago, control and

automation systems were stand-alone and separate.

Often, the critical nature of the functions carried out meant that such systems had

limited access to the outside world. They also had a designated human-machine

interface, an HMI, which handled nearly all day-to-day interaction between the control

system and operators. To ensure the highest possible system safety, security and

reliability, the HMI might be the only way for anyone but a developer to access the

SCADA system.

Over time, these systems were integrated into an industrial network that connected

everything on a plant floor together. This made it possible for vital data to flow from a

factory floor or similar location to a management network and vice versa. Typically,

though, the points of connection were strictly limited and restricted, again for safety

and performance reasons.

Thanks to this setup, SCADA software has traditionally been designed for specific

screen sizes and orientations. A designer, for example, might lay out buttons and

gauges on a touch screen that is known to be 20 centimeters or more diagonally, with

a fixed aspect ratio between the width and length. The designer would then place a

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certain number of items on the screen. The goal would be to maximize usefulness to

and productivity of an operator, with tradeoffs made between element size, readability,

usefulness, and resulting HMI complexity. Human factor considerations, such as the

size of fingers and the consequent need for a certain button dimension, also played a

role.

However, the growing proliferation of connected devices is fundamentally changing

this picture. For one thing, the increasing connection between SCADA systems and

the outside world means that the display screen is no longer as fixed as it once was.

Before the HMI might run on a screen measuring 18 centimeters, or seven inches, on

a side, with no other option now, displays used for data viewing and control functions

might range from that of a smartphone to a tablet or a desktop computer. While

smartphone displays have gotten steadily larger over the years, there is still a

significant difference in the size of a smartphone’s screen and what can be found on a

desktop.

Since this involves displaying information

and buttons, more than physical screen

real estate is involved. What is important is

resolution, and this varies significantly

between devices. A high-end phone, for example, may have a screen of 1080 x 1920

pixels while high performance desktop systems may have a 5120 x 2880 pixel display.

Tablets have yet another configuration, as do other phones and devices.

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Thus, SCADA access now may come using a variety of displays, all with differing

resolution and orientation. Indeed, the aspect ratio of the screen may change, as

happens when a phone or tablet is switched from a horizontal to vertical orientation or

vice versa.

An additional challenge arises from the IoT. The Internet of Things means that there

will be a great many more sensors, with these providing what may be critical

information on machine health, process conditions, or both. Such data may be what

was traditionally captured by a SCADA system. However, it is likely that what is

generated by these sensors will be much more extensive than anything coming out of

a traditional SCADA setup.

This, then, gives rise to the second great SCADA challenge. There will be much more

data produced by all the new sensors. This will lead to cross-platform applications

that make use of this flood of data and the greater connectivity. Consequently, a

SCADA system will find itself in an environment that is much more complex than what

has been the case in the past.

So, SCADA information will be displayed on a wider range of devices than was the

case previously. Some of these will be remote and some will come from

non-traditional suppliers. Yet for all that, the basic needs that the system must meet

will not change. Information will still have to be displayed in a way that makes sense

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to users, while control and other functions must be carried out. This will have to take

place in a setting that is more complex and variable than before.

Solve SCADA's Problems and Benefit

Fortunately, the new technology landscape contains solutions to such challenges that

also can create new benefits. This comes from using the power of HTML5, the fifth

version of the hypertext markup language standard. It is the core language of the IoT.

Adopted in October 2014, HTML5 is an improvement over its predecessors because

it supports the latest multimedia as well as allowing application programming

interfaces for complex web applications. Additionally, it has features designed to

make it work better on low end devices. This includes loading and running faster while

allowing for higher quality video and audio content. In turn, this means that graphics

can be more detailed.

Also, the greater performance means that applications can be more intelligent. The

power this offers gets a further boost because HTML5 applications are quicker to

design and modify. What’s more, the debugging process of any application is faster

because of the features built into the language.

Importantly for SCADA applications, HTML5 allows for the correct scaling of graphics,

images and text on any size or orientation screen. This scaling is uniform.

Consequently, what is on a SCADA display need no longer be tied to one fixed

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screen layout.

What is needed, of course, is an HTML5 capable web browser. For SCADA

applications, there also must be enough screen real estate for information to be

readable and buttons big enough to be pushed. With the ability to zoom in or out and

pan around as needed, though, even small screens can offer large functionality.

With HTML5 and web access, it is possible for users to browse and monitor a

SCADA-controlled process using virtually any device at any time and at any place.

Thus, this solves the problems presented to SCADA displays by the new era of

connectivity.

However, HTML5 offers a vital additional benefit: it is the connective link for the

Internet of Things. Many IoT devices generate data, with examples being sensors

that report on the characteristic vibration of a machine, its temperature, the

temperature of a room, and other environmental conditions. This information must be

sent to servers, which then can distribute the data. From there, action can be taken,

such as scheduling preventive maintenance for a machine that is showing signs of

wearing out. There must, however, be communication between the data generator

and the server.

What’s more, this communication must be full duplex. With such a two-way link, either

end of the connection can initiate a data exchange. A final key characteristic that must

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be present is that the communication must have low latency and little overhead.

These requirements are important in an IoT setting. After all, a sensor generating data

may not transmit much or often, but when it does need to send information there

should not be a big computational penalty. The billions of IoT devices that will be

connected will not happen without a flexible and powerful connector.

The Websockets protocol built into HTML5 does just that. Although designed to be

implemented in web browsers and web servers, Websockets can be used by any

client or server application. Using this technology leads to a low overhead persistent

connection between the client and the server, one in which both can start sending

data at any time. This capability is a leading reason why HTML5 has become the

language of choice for IoT applications.

What this means is that an HTML5-capable browser and associated software are well

suited for the IoT environment. The power of HTML5 makes it possible to easily

develop an IoT application. This could be used to allow fast and stable integration of

third party data, such as the information generated by sensors. That makes it feasible

to then take advantage of the flood of IoT devices and the data they capture.

As this shows, HTML5 solves the problems created for SCADA systems by screens

of varying resolution and orientation. Additionally, the latest version of the hypertext

markup language also makes it possible to incorporate information from IoT devices

into a SCADA scheme, thereby extending the reach of a solution while enhancing its

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usefulness and value.

Typical applications

Seeing examples of how such a setup would work illustrates the advantages of this

approach. Typical applications are found in managing a factory floor, as well as

monitoring photovoltaic operations or a facility.

In the case of the first of these applications, the ability to gather data from an array of

sensors allows an HTML5-based solution to improve the effectiveness of factory

automation and control setup. For example, integrating machine vision, motion and

robotics leads to enhanced production, with less waste, fewer defects or rework, and

tighter product specifications. What’s more, additional data and greater connectivity

allows the energy supply to be optimized and consumption reduced, thereby cutting

operating costs. Production can be monitored and adjusted remotely, improving

traceability and flexibility.

A final point about using this technology on the factory floor is that equipment can be

monitored, enabling more intelligent maintenance. It may be possible, for instance, to

lengthen the interval between scheduled downtime of a machine. That increases

uptime and system throughput, leading to lower costs.

Utility sized photovoltaic operations, a second possible application, involve large

facilities, with these often located at significant distances from one another. Since

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electricity storage can be expensive, a utility must adjust what it gets from its solar cell

arrays to meet demand. This can be done by altering the tilt of the panels with respect

to the Sun or by taking parts of an array offline. This tuning of electricity production

must account for cloud cover, rain, and other weather factors at individual locations.

Combining the data from sensors with what is produced by the array itself and that

coming from customer or network demand provides the information needed for this

balancing act. An HTML5-capable solution can access this data and a SCADA setup,

forming the basis for a centralized control and monitoring system.

The third and last typical application is in facility monitoring, such as when data is

used in a building EMS. An EMS, or energy management system, can enable

significant savings, with reported consumption reductions of as much as 75 percent.

This is possible even in older buildings that have not yet implemented the latest

technology. Newer buildings equipped with an EMS can also benefit from the

additional information generated by a swarm of IoT sensors. Taking advantage of this

data, though, requires a capable monitoring and control solution, which can be built

using HTML5.

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Advantech provides such a solution in its

WebAccess HTML5 Business Intelligence

Dashboard. It features a widget library, more

than 40 different kinds of built-in widgets,

consisting of such items as real-time energy and

building weather information. The library also

contains data and chart displays, google map integration, alarm log, event log, along

with many other items. It also is possible to build a widget, if something suitable is not

in the library and create your own automatic graphics by using Widget Builder that is a

drawing tool in WebAccess Dashboard. Widgets can be assembled using the

Dashboard Editor into the desired solution. You can adjust your dashboard layout

automatically or manually and set the order shown on the phone. This can then be

viewed and controlled via any HTML5-capable browser on any device at any place

and time.

With the new data connector, WebAccess Dashboard cannot only get internal data

from WebAccess but also can get data from standard database such as, Microsoft

SQL Server, Oracle, or MySQL and through Restful API to integration with 3rd party

software that makes it easy to integrate IoT applications as well as cloud services.

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Dashboard is a standard function of Advantech’s

WebAcess/SCADA. That means that data from

machines, motors, sensors, robots, controllers,

and CNC systems can all be accessed and

displayed, along with information from IoT sensors.

Dashboard is configured as a server/client model,

with versions of the latter available in Windows,

iOS and Android. This means that it can be used

on desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone. In the

future, WebAccess Dashboard will be an

independent product and will continue to develop

its capabilities with a cloud-based visualization platform.

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Conclusion

To review, SCADA systems are used in a variety of industries, such as electricity

generation and oil and gas production. Projections for continued growth in SCADA

components are proof that the technology is still valued. But, traditionally SCADA was

designed for a given screen size. The advent of greater connectivity and the

proliferation of display devices make this a problem.

This can be solved by putting HTML5 technology to use because the fifth version of

the hypertext markup language can properly scale what is on a display. An added

benefit is that HTML5 is also the language of choice for the IoT. Hence, it is possible

to both overcome SCADA’s display challenges and make use of the data generated

by IoT sensors. This can improve factory floor, utility, and facility management

operations.